"Groundhog Day" Syndrome and other Leopard stuff

In some ways the 2013 Lafayette football team is plagued by something I'm calling, for lack of a better term, "Groundhog Day" Syndrome.

Remember the Bill Murray movie? Funny stuff.

But with Lafayette, there is nothing funny about it.

"Groundhog Day" Syndrome is a disease in which every game is getting to look pretty much
like the one that preceded it. And with Lafayette, it is often more than just every game -- it's almost like every quarter has its own strange similarities that the Leopards can't seem to shake off.

While I am still convinced this is not a bad football team,
the Leopards have managed to put themselves into some terrible positions.

In the Harvard game, it started at the beginning. After allowing Harvard to convert two third-down plays into first downs on the opening drive, the defense, led by linebackers Mike Boles, Ben Aloi, Tyler Robinson and Chris Brockman, rose up and pushed back when the Crimson got inside the 10. And just when it looked lke it would force the Crimson to settle for three points, it let tight end Cameron Brate to get free on a fake punt for a touchdown. "Groundhog Day" Syndrome.

Lafayette gets the ball for the first time, but instead of starting at the 23-yard line, which wasn't great anyway, it had to start at the 13 because of a penalty. That means the Leopard special teams, which have been a bright spot most of the season, slipped up on back-to-back plays.

In the opening minutes of the second quarter, Lafayette is on the move to the Harvard 28. It's third-and-3, and quarterback Andrew Dzurik passes to Demetrius Dixon. The ball bounces off him, hits a Harvard player and then goes into the hands of the Crimson's Connor Sheehan. Instead of moving toward points, Lafayette is suddenly back on defense on its own 45-yard line after Sheehan returns the interception 35 yards.

"Turnovers are tough to overcome," Coach Frak Tavani said later. "The other side has to respond, and we didn’t.
We get a stop, and then it looks as if we were going down, but we need points on the board and
it fell short."

Harvard drives the short field to the Lafayette 27, where it is faced with fourth-and-5. Crimson receiver Ricky Zorn and Leopard defender Matt Smalley get tangled up on a pass play on which the ball seemed uncatchable. Oops, pass interference penalty against the Leopards for a first down at the 10. Two plays later, touchdown Harvard. "Groundhog Day" Syndrome.

Finally, when it looks like maybe things will turn around, Lafayette converts three consecutive third-down plays to keep a drive alive. Then, first down on the Harvard 5 ... second down on the Harvard 2. But a third-down play never gets going as Ross Scheuerman is thrown for a five-yard loss by Zach Hodges. Ryan Gralish kicks a 24-yard field goal to salvage something from the drive, but somehow, it seemed like a negative. "Groundhog Day" Syndrome.

It happens again in the third quarter. Two successful third-down conversions help Lafayette gov from the 20 to the Harvard 41. But this time, a third-down pass gets just five yards and the Leopard decide to go for it. Reed never has a chance as Joshua Boyd sacks him for an eight-yard loss. No points. "Groundhog Day" Syndrome. And to add insult to injury, Harvard turns around and drives for a touchdown. Harvard 21, Lafayette 3. Brutal.

The next time Harvard gets the ball, the Crimson is faced with a second and 15 at its own 26. Pruneau throws in the direction of Coleman Brate, but the ball hits Lafayette defensive back DeOliver Davis on the numbers -- and bounces off. Incomplete. "When you're wining and rolling, that stuff goes right," Coach Tavani said. 'When you're not, they don't. Then you have to just keep your head down and grind." "Groundhog Day" Syndrome.

And finally, Lafayette, still down 21-3, gets a turnover at its own 15 and drives to the Harvard 22 early in the fourth period where, on third-and-8, Reed passes to Scheuerman, who is hit by Norman Hayes and fumbles, with Harvard recovering at the 19. "Groundhog Day" Syndrome. And more insult, the Crimson turns that takeaway into another touchdown on a 50-yard pass from Pruneau to Andrew Fischer.

So, you wonder why Tavani would say, "We haven’t been able to sustain a full-game effort to this point. We continue
to turn the ball over and make some bad choices. I always credit the other team
with the effort, but some of them were just flat-out giveaways. It’s been that
kind of year." Yep, coach, "Groundhog Day Syndrome."

"I told the team in the locker room I’m really mad, but I’m mad at myself because I haven’t been
able to find a way to have this team enjoy the success I think they are capable
of, particularly the seniors. The goal now is to figure out what we can do and make
some noise in the league."

The tendency with a 1-5 team is to think nothing good is happening. And the "Groundhog Day" Syndrome stuff seems to attest to that. But even at this point of the season, there were a bunch of bright spots for the Leopards.

THE BRIGHTEST SPOT -- The emergence of Drew Reed. I was surprised when Phil LaBella came to me at halftime and said, "It looks like we're changing quarterbacks."

Going into this game, I figured this was the last chance to do something like this because I figured once the Leopards got into the Patriot League mode, the coaches wouldn't risk it.

I didn't think Andrew Dzurik looked a lot different than he had in any other game, but his stats certainly showed nothing was happening, and as I have mentioned earlier, some of the "Groundhog Day" Syndrome stuff was haunting me. I mentioned in a blog last week that I thought it would be a good idea to start the competition between the freshman and the sophomore now, but I didn't hold out much hope for the switch.

I had no expectations about the youngster from Lakeland, Tenn., but if I had set some, he would have exceeded them.

And when I talked to him after the game, he not only showed great composure, but he also said the RIGHT things. I used some of his comments in my game story on Sunday and in my Monday followup.

About the speed of the game: "It wasn’t as fast as I thought it would be, but some things
happened a little quicker than I expected. Some of the sacks I took, I have to
get the ball out quicker. My line did a great job blocking for me, and most of
those sacks were on me. They didn’t bring it as
much as Princeton blitzwise. They had a really good d-line and they rely on them
and bring one or two behind it. Their d-line usually is good enough to get
pressure on the quarterback without bringing too much."

And, on his temptation to run: "I guess you could say I like to run, but it’s more a matter of of not wanting to make a bad
thing worse. If somebody’s not there, I don’t want to try to force it and throw
an intereption like I did on my first pass attempt."

Coach Tavani said he thought Reed "looks a lot like Brad Maurer" as a player. That may be the highest praise he can give, because Maurer was effective as a passer and runner for three straight championship teams. "He has run the spread offense and the hurry-up in high school," Tavani said of Reed. "He threw the ball all over the place."

It's generally thought Reed might have had offers from some FBS schools if he had not been injured and forced to miss half of his senior year. He could turn out to be a real find for Lafayette, whether it's this year or sometime in the future.

Tavani tossed even more fuel on the fire when he added, "Don't overlook the other kid, (Blake) Searfoss. He has a laser arm, and there wasn't a whole lot of difference
between them cominig out of preseason camp. Later, Drew seemed to be a bit ahead in recognition of
the offense. But right now, Searfoss should be telling himself, 'I'm on deck.'"

BRIGHT SPOT -- The Leopards’ defense. Near the end of the second
quarter, Harvard’s Chris Splinter intercepted an Andrew Dzurik pass to give the
Crimson possession at the Leopards’ 23. Big stops by Mike Boles and Ben Aloi
left Harvard with fourth down at the 17. A field goal was no good. Early in the
third period, D.J. Monroe of Harvard intercepted a Drew Reed pass to give the
Crimson the ball at its own 47. Tyler Robinson, Boles and the entire defense
made back-to-back-to-back plays for a three-and-out. In the fourth quarter,
after Eric Medes ran 37 yards on that fake punt to put Harvard on the Leopards’
19, Two plays later, Lafayette linemen Steve Mercado and Darius Glover combined
on a strip-and-recover play that denied the Crimson of a score it didn’t
deserve in the first place. Those were three of the most memorable moments for
the defense.

BRIGHT SPOT – A never-quit
attitude. Many Lafayette followers can remember how the Leopards seemed to give
up while being thrashed by Harvard in 2010 and 2011, when this year’s seniors
were freshmen and sophomores. Well, the same thing easily could have happened
on Saturday, but freshman quarterback Drew Reed wasn’t around for any of those
games. So, down 28-3, Reed passes to Brandon Hall (23 yards), Mike Duncan (23
yards) and Duncan again for the final 25 yards on a nifty rollout provided one
touchdown. Then, down 35-10, Reed hit Brian Keller (20) yards, ran for one
first down and finally hit Demetrius Dixon (43 yards) for another
touchdown. Harvard Coach Tim Murphy
tried to dismiss those two scores when, during his postgame press conference, he
said, “Any time the defense doesn’t give up a touchdown to a FCS Division I
team, you’re doing a great job.” Sorry, Tim, but those throws from Reed to
Duncan and Dixon are going into the record books as six-point plays. The last I
knew, those plays were referred to as touchdowns.

BRIGHT SPOT – The rookies
contribute. As the Leopards scrambled to fill all the holes or shore up[
positions in the defensive secondary last week, one move sent freshman Draeland
James from corner to safety. With only three days of practice at the new
position, James made six tackles on Saturday, getting the first one on a blitz
on the fifth play of the game. But he was not the only first-year player
(besides Reed) to make his presence known. Collin Albershardt made three
tackles and Coach Tavani said, “Who would have ever thought we’d have a
freshman at anchor?” Matt Rothrock, who has been practicing for less than a
month, had a pair of stops. And, Tim Vangelas made the tackle that may have
prevented a Harvard TD on that fake punt and he also handled two Harvard punts.
He did not have a pass receptions, but he was in the rotation.

As you might recognize by now, I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy. So, let's get on with it.